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Gao Foia Report
Gao Foia Report
Washington, DC 20548
Congressional Requesters
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), enacted into law more than 50 years ago, requires
federal agencies to provide the public with access to government records and information based
on the principles of openness and accountability in government. 1 As required by law, 118
agencies reported their FOIA activities to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for fiscal year (FY)
2018.
DOJ’s Office of Information Policy (OIP), National Archives and Records Administration’s Office
of Government Information Services (OGIS), and the Chief FOIA Officers Council each have
roles supporting agency implementation of FOIA. Specifically, OIP is responsible for
“encouraging agencies’ compliance with FOIA and overseeing their implementation of the Act.”
OGIS’s responsibilities include reviewing agencies’ policies, procedures, and compliance with
the FOIA, and identifying methods to improve compliance. The Chief FOIA Officers Council,
which is co-chaired by the Director of OIP and the Director of OGIS, was established to assist in
FOIA compliance and efficiency.
You asked us to review federal agencies’ efforts to implement the FOIA Improvement Act of
2016. 2 This report provides information on
1. government-wide FOIA activity from fiscal year (FY) 2012 through 2018,
2. steps OIP and OGIS have taken to assist agencies in implementing the FOIA
Improvement Act of 2016 since 2018, and
3. progress selected agencies have made on updating FOIA regulations since 2018.
Earlier this month, we briefed your staff on the results of our review. This letter formally
transmits the briefing slides (see enclosure I).
To describe government-wide FOIA activity, we reviewed FY 2012 through 2018 data from the
agencies required to report key FOIA statistics to DOJ for posting on FOIA.gov. These data
included government-wide statistics on the number of FOIA requests and backlogged requests,
processing timeliness, denials of requests, and agency-reported FOIA resources (staff and
spending). We assessed the reliability of the data by reviewing related documentation,
interviewing knowledgeable agency officials, and conducting data testing for missing data,
15 U.S.C. § 552.
2FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, Pub. L. No. 114-185, 130 Stat. 538 (2016) (provisions codified at 5 U.S.C. § 552).
To describe OIP and OGIS efforts to support FOIA implementation, we reviewed recent policies,
guidance, and other relevant documentation OIP and OGIS provided to agencies and
interviewed OIP and OGIS officials.
We conducted this performance audit from October 2019 to March 2020 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
• OIP and OGIS Assistance. Since 2018, OIP continued to provide a range of resources
for federal agencies including policy guidance and training for agency personnel. OIP
also managed the submission of agency reporting requirements and used these data to
assess agency compliance with FOIA as well as determine the need for additional
resources to guide agencies. OGIS, as the Federal FOIA Ombudsman, provided
3GAO,Freedom of Information Act: Agencies Are Implementing Requirements but Additional Actions Are Needed
GAO-18-365 (Washington, D.C.: June 25, 2018).
4The FOIA defines unusual circumstances when an agency may extend this deadline by an additional 10 business
days. These include (I) the need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other
establishments that are separate from the office processing the request; (II) the need to search for, collect, and
appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in a single
request; or (III) the need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency
having a substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of the agency
having substantial subject-matter interest therein. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(iii).
We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Justice, National Archives and Records
Administration, American Battle Monuments Commission, U.S. Agency for Global Media,
Department of State, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Management
and Budget, and U.S. African Development Foundation. We received written comments from
the National Archives and Records Administration that are reprinted in enclosure II and
summarized below. We received email comments from the U.S. African Development
Foundation that are also summarized below. The Department of Justice, National Archives and
Records Administration, Department of State, and U.S. Agency for Global Media provided
technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. The American Battle Monuments
Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Office of Management and
Budget told us that they had no comments.
The National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Government Information Services
stated that it balances assessing agency-specific compliance with government-wide compliance
issues. Although government-wide assessments have taken priority in recent years, it has not
stopped assessing individual agency FOIA programs. Accordingly, we have reflected this
information in our report.
The Associate General Counsel of the U.S. African Development Foundation stated that the
lack of updated regulations does not affect the public because the agency does not charge fees.
We believe fully implementing FOIA requirements will better position agencies to provide the
public with necessary access to government records and ensure openness in government.
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of this report earlier, we
plan no further distribution until 5 days from the report date. At that time, we will send copies to
the appropriate congressional committees, the Attorney General of the United States, Archivist
of the United States, Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, Chief Executive
Officer and Director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Secretary of State, Administrator of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. African Development Foundation, and
other interested parties. In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at
https://www.gao.gov.
5GAO-18-365.
Michelle Sager
Director
Strategic Issues
Enclosures - 2
(103891)
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